I'm curious to know if Hamilton has ever had an LRT or RT proposal in the past besides the ill-fated ALRT GO project from the early '80s. It seems to me a city of that size, especially 30 years ago, would have at least fantasized of joining the big leagues of transit, like Winnipeg has since the '50s...

Oh speaking of LRT today's a historical day for Hamilton. Councilors are currently discussing the benefits of LRT. The committee in charge of the Rapid Transit Office is requesting councilors to approve open house meetings to discuss LRT for Hamilton. Basically to start the LRT debate in this city.

Vancouver's new articulated electric trolleys have started running on my local route

I'm crazy about Vancouver's new articulated trolleys and I'm beside myself that they have started running on my local route, the #20 Victoria which runs from Downtown Vancouver to Commercial Drive and then Victoria Drive. This is one of the city's busiest bus routes and these higher capacity buses are desperately needed since the 77-passenger models just cannot keep up with demand at all hours of the day and night despite 4- to 7-minute frequency during most hours of operation.

I photoshopped two pictures together to get rid of the cars that were blocking parts of the bus. My photo, taken April 21st, 2008.

Even in the middle of the day on a Monday with the buses running every four or five minutes the articulated trolley bus is still comfortably full. My photo, taken April 21st, 2008.

The doors are a little different on the articulated trolleys in that you just push this strip rather than a bar. It confounded some people who just started hitting the door everywhere like the monkeys at the Monolith in 2001: A Space Odyssey. My photo, taken April 21st, 2008.

I never understood why bus manufacturers thought it necessary to change the simple 'push on the bar' system for opening the doors. First they come out with 'push on this yellow strip', now they have the 'wave your hands vigorously in the general vicinity of this sign', next we'll be doing the fu&*ing chicken dance to get off the bus.

I never understood why bus manufacturers thought it necessary to change the simple 'push on the bar' system for opening the doors. First they come out with 'push on this yellow strip', now they have the 'wave your hands vigorously in the general vicinity of this sign', next we'll be doing the fu&*ing chicken dance to get off the bus.

A lot of it comes down to what doesn't break as easy. It's a lot harder to break a motion sensor then either of the other types.

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I took this photo of a four-car SkyTrain this morning as it came into the Broadway-Commercial Drive station. Once we receive the additional trains that are on order these four-car trains will be standard for rush hour with the usual 90- to 120-second frequency. I suspect the four-car trains will actually be used most hours of the day since rush hour in Vancouver lasts from dawn to dusk without pause.

Once the planned station renovations go through and the platforms are extended on the Expo Line these four-car trains will be extended to six-car trains during rush hour. I can't wait.

My photo, taken April 22nd, 2008.

I used a fair amount of zoom for the shot which makes the train look shorter than it is. This four-car SkyTrain is actually about 75 metres / 250 feet in length.

I'm curious to know if Hamilton has ever had an LRT or RT proposal in the past besides the ill-fated ALRT GO project from the early '80s. It seems to me a city of that size, especially 30 years ago, would have at least fantasized of joining the big leagues of transit, like Winnipeg has since the '50s...

Hamilton has a Rapid Transit feasibility study on the go, and by the looks of it, Hamilton will get LRT for the East-West corridor dubbed the B-Line, after the original Bee-Line route.

A-Line (up the mountain to the airport) hasn't really been fig'd out yet (re: type of technology to use: brt or lrt)

__________________The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. John Kenneth GalbraithWe must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere.Elie Wiesel